Another Wormhole?
by LOZnerd
Summary: Warning: Conclusions spoilers! Takes place after the series has ended and they're in college Lucas goes through a new wormhole and gets hurt in the process and goes to Josie for help, and Josie is worried about Lucas. Josie x Lucas.
1. Chapter 1

Okay. So this is my first Strange Days fan fiction so please be kind if you decide to review. (Though I would like criticism, please don't make it harsh. ^_~). Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters though I wish I did. I love them all so much. Well, without further ado: Here's the story "Another Wormhole?"

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"But I like this shirt!" Lucas complained as Josie ripped his favorite shirt at the shoulder.

"And I'm rather fond of your life!" Jose snapped. "This cut looks really infected and I need to see it better." She calmed down a bit as she was concentrating on her work. She wasn't completely calm, though. She kept thinking about Lucas' apparent disregard for his life at the moment. "What happened to you?" She asked as she balled the shirt up and threw it on the floor.

Lucas sighed. "I discovered another wormhole, so I thought it might be interesting to see where it would take me. I didn't do anything to change the past…" he added as he noticed Josie's glare. "I went to the future – OW!" He rubbed his head where Josie slapped him. "What was that for?"

"Being an idiot," Josie scolded as she turned away to hid the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. "You don't think, do you? You could've been killed!"

"Yeah, I guess." Lucas shrugged and winced when his cut protested to the movement. "I did run into Tyler. He's one of Avenir's flunkies, go figure. The dude nearly killed me, too. That's how I got this cut, I fought him. It would've been much more than a cut if I hadn't – Josie, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Her voice was rough from nearly crying. Josie Trent did _not_ cry. As far as Josie knew she didn't even like Lucas like that, so why did she care so much?

"Um… Josie?" Lucas was clearly confused; he was such a typical guy. He had no idea the girl he had been pining over since freshman year in high school was having an internal battle whether she liked him or not.

"Yeah," Josie turned around, all hints of crying gone. "Let me disinfect your wound for you." Without any warning she grabbed an alcohol swab and wiped Lucas' cut.

"Ouch! Josie, what did I ever do to you?" He exclaimed as Josie gripped his shoulder to keep him in his seat. "Can I have some warning next time?"

"You made me worry." Josie said it quietly, barely a whisper, but Lucas was so used to hanging on her every word that he caught what she said. All that time trying to figure out the truth for herself, and here is was out in the open. It was too much for Josie; she covered her mouth and started to leave. She just had to get away, but Lucas grabbed her arm and she stopped.

"Please don't leave," he said. "I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Fine," she picked up a new alcohol swab and started working again. "But only because if I leave this cut, you'll probably die." After that she worked in silence while Lucas would occasionally glance at her reflection in the mirror in front of him.

I have a couple of questions for you," Josie finally stated as she was looking for strong, sterile thread. (Luckily she had some pre-packaged medical thread since she was a pre-med student).

"Shoot." Lucas was expecting this. He knew Josie, and he knew that she would want to find out more about the new wormhole. He was so busy thinking about how he would answer her questions that he missed the first one completely. "What?"

"I said 'Why didn't you go to the hospital?'" She started to thread the needle and the question caught him off-guard.

"Why didn't I go to the hospital?"

"Yes, that's what I asked. Did Tyler also make you retarded?" Lucas gulped. Now Josie was annoyed, _and_ she was about to stick a really big needle into his shoulder.

"Um….no – AH!" Lucas gasped when she made the first stitch. "Tyler's sword had this weird futuristic goo on it. I didn't know if it would show up weird on any medical tests."

"Understandable," Josie nodded her head. "I have another question. Why is that your favorite shirt? It's just a plain orange T-shirt." Lucas chuckled and winced at the same time as Josie made another stitch. The noise that came out was mangled and almost like a hyena in pain.

"I guess it _is_ too obvious for you to figure that out." After that comment, he got a nice glare from Josie. "Chillax, it's just because it's the color of your hair." Josie looked over at the bloodied rag in the corner. "Well it was," Lucas added. "Before I bled on it."

"Oh."

"Do you have any more questions for me before I leave?" His eyes met Josie's in the mirror as she tied the final knot.

"Yeah, I have one more." Josie replied and Lucas wondered what she was going to ask. "This may, um… Well, this may seem awkward, and if you don't want to, you don't have to. I know you're capable of living alone, but I think I should keep an eye on you with that future gunk in your blood-stream. Will you stay the night? I have 'Z' on speed-dial in case you get worse."

"Yeah, sure I will, if you want me," Lucas mumbled. She was right, it was awkward, but he really did want to stay.

"What?"

"I said sure." He replied a bit louder. "Sorry about that, I'm a little tired. I think I'll go to sleep." He moved from the chair to the floor already almost half asleep. "Do you have any blankets I can use?"

"Nu-uh. You're _not_ sleeping on the floor. Not in your condition." Josie grabbed his waist and half guided, half pulled him onto her bed. She covered him up and pulled a chair beside the bed so she could watch him. She was already suspicious of how quickly Lucas got tired, but she didn't know if that was normal for him or not. All she could do was wait.

Josie didn't know how long it had been – her yes never left Lucas, not even to check the time with the clock that was two feet from him – but she knew it was late when Corrine came back.

"You're home late," Josie commented. She didn't move from watching Lucas, she knew her roommate would figure it out eventually.

"Yeah, I was helping Marshall find Lucas, he's been miss- he's here?!" Corrine finally noticed the sleeping boy in Josie's bed. Josie just nodded, still watching him. Finally she turned to face Corrine, tears in her eyes.

"I think he's hurt. Bad."

"I have to call Marshall."


	2. Chapter 2

So… onto Chapter 2!! Yay! Thank you Marauderette.x. for the lovely comment! ^_^ It inspired me to get this up tonight, less than 24 hours after I finished the first chapter! (Okay, so I _did_ already have some of it planned out in my head) but that's still good. (Okay, and maybe its 22 hours after give or take a few minutes, but still under 24 hours! Authors twist words sometimes. It's what we do ^_~). Well, I've blabbed enough. Y'all want to read chapter 2 of "Another Wormhole?"

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Corrine and Josie sat waiting for everybody to arrive. Corrine had called Marshall who would be there any second and Josie had spoken with "Z" who was on his way and suggested that they call Vaughn because it had something to do with the original wormhole (most likely since Tyler was involved). Josie had yet to call Vaughn and it had been fifteen minutes, so Corrine stood up.

"If you're not going to call him, I am." Corrine gave the final ultimatum, and Josie sighed. She knew she should call him herself, but she really didn't want to draw her attention away from Lucas _at all_. Sighing once more, she decided she owed it to Vaughn to call him.

"I'll do it. Will you watch Lucas for me and let me know if anything changes?"

"Of course," Corrine smiled kindly. "You can trust me to take good care of him."

"Alright," and with that, Josie left. She walked into the kitchen and flipped open her cell phone. Dialing Vaughn's number was so natural from when she would call him after they defeated Avenir. Wait. They defeated Avenir. How could he still be around?

"Hello? Hello… Josie?"

"Oh, um… hi." Josie hadn't realized Vaughn had picked up.

"Long-time-no-speak," Vaughn said groggily over the phone. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, I do." Josie replied. "I'm sorry to bother you, but Lucas got hurt really bad and the rest of the science club is coming."

"What happened?" Vaughn sounded a little more awake now. "Did he get in a fight?"

"If only," Josie sighed. "He found a new wormhole and traveled through it alone. I guess he figured the science club was done, and he actually _was_ on his own. Well, anyways, he ran into Tyler and he beat him senseless, but it wasn't like punching. Tyler had a sword I guess and it had some crazy futuristic goo on it that got in Lucas' blood stream through the cut Tyler gave him. I don't know what to do, Vaughn. Lucas might die, and –" Josie stopped mid sentence and started to cry.

"I'll be right there. It'll all be alright. I know Lucas. He won't let _Tyler_ of all people beat him."

"Alright," Josie sniffled. "I'm going to go and check on Lucas. Bye." She flipped the phone closed and walked into the bedroom. When she got there, Marshall was already there and holding Corrine's hand.

"Hey."

"Hey. Vaughn's on his way and 'Z' should be here any –" The doorbell rang. "He's here. I'll get it." Josie sighed.

"Where is he?" Were the first words out of Professor Zachary's mouth.

"On the bed," Josie showed the way. "I don't know what he was thinking, going into the wormhole alone," she complained.

"Yeah, that wasn't very smart of him," The professor agreed. "But would you have done the same?" He looked over his glasses at Josie the way he always looks at all of his students when he lectures them.

"I guess you're right," Josie sighed. "But, still…"

"Lucas needs your help. You can't worry about anything except for his safety right now. You know more about medicine than any of us do. If we want to have a good chance to save him, we need you." With that, "Z" walked into the bedroom.

"How long has he been like this?" Z asked noticing how pale Lucas' complexion had turned.

"An hour and a half," Josie said quietly behind him. "Maybe two, but I don't know how long ago the infection started to take place. The symptoms are very similar to dehydration, at least from what I can tell. Something is definitely fishy about that goo."

"I think any goo is suspicious," Marshall chimed in. "Ow!" Corrine elbowed him.

"Not helping!" She muttered in a harsh whisper under her breath. "Wait, what goo?" Corrine asked Josie. "If we're going to help, we need to know everything that you know."

"When Lucas traveled through the wormhole, he fought Tyler and Tyler's sword had some creepy future-goo on it. It's probably poison or something. That's all I can think of.

"Vaughn's here," Corrine said as she showed her cell phone screen to display the text message. "He says he thought you would be busy so he messaged me. He wants to know if he should let himself in or wait."

"Yeah, he should let himself in." Josie sighed. Lucas would love this; the whole science club was entirely whole again after a year of being separated. Josie hadn't even spoken to some of them since graduation.

"Hey, what did I miss?" She heard Vaughn's all to familiar voice behind her and she turned around.

"Nothing much," Marshall was the one who answered. "He's just laying there."

"Whoa, Lucas doesn't look so good," Vaughn pointed out the obvious."

"Let's take a look at the infection. I'm curious to see what this goo looks like." Z stated as he motioned for Josie to move forward. "We don't know how much time he had, either.

"Right," Z's comment seemed to snap Josie back into action. She carefully un-bandaged his injury and peeled away the gauze that soaked up the blood, and Josie gasped.

"I'm going to assume, it's not supposed to be this color," Marshall commented, gaping at the oozing sore on Lucas' shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so here's chapter 3! Thanks all of you who have read it! It seems to be taking a separate route than I intended, but oh, well. It's turning out pretty cool anyways, imo… but who am I but the author of this little piece? Lolz. Until next time ^_~

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They all just stood there, staring at the infection. It was glowing, literally _glowing!_

"It wasn't like that when I stitched him up!" Josie exclaimed as she felt his forehead. "He's burning up!" Josie noted.

"We should probably take him to the hospital," Marshall looked really worried/

"I'm not so sure…"Z countered. "Lucas came to Josie for a reason."

"He said he didn't want anything funny to show up on any medical tests."

"That's right," Corrine said with authority. "The wormhole _needs_ to stay as much of a secret as we can make it. We can't take him to the hospital, Marshall. I'm sorry."

"Can I say something?" Vaughn asked tentatively. The group was going to have another fight again, he knew it. They looked at him expectantly. "I know Lucas and I haven't gotten along really well, but this has nothing to do with that. I think he should go to the hospital."

"Okay," Z remained calm. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, no offense to Josie, but –" Josie cut him off with a scoff.

"Josie…" Professor Z warned her. "Let Vaughn speak."

"Um, thanks…" Vaughn started to wring his hands and Josie just rolled her eyes. "Josie's only in her first year of pre-med. What if he needs a professional?" Josie just glared.

"Vaughn brings up a good point –" Corrine started to say, but Josie cut her off.

"You, too Corrine? Doesn't anybody have faith in me?"Josie exploded.

"If you would have let me finish, Josie, I was going to say that I thought you could and _should_ take care of Lucas while the rest of us try to find the wormhole and investigate what's going on."

"Brilliant plan," Josie snapped. "You never know where the wormhole will lead next! I doubt you'll ever get back to the same place."

"Girls..." Z tried to step in and Marshall raised his hand, "I think Marshall may have something to say."

"I do. Lucas actually was working on a strategy to get to a specific time and place. He couldn't perfect the place aspect of it, but it should get us close enough and in the right section of time to at least find out some information.

"That's brilliant!" Corrine smiled and squeezed Marshall's hand. "We now have a plan to save Lucas."

"Wait. How does Lucas know that he's right?" Vaughn asked. "Shouldn't he have tested it out to be positive?"

"He never said." Marshall replied. "He just told me to trust him."

"Marshall," Z looked at him. "Is it possible that Lucas knew about the wormhole before today?"

"Yeah… come to think of it." Marshall replied. "He's been really secretive lately." He looked at Z. "You don't think….?"

"Marshall, this is important. How long has Lucas been like that?" Z asked, looking a bit worried.

"Easy," Marshall replied. "I remember the exact day very well. It was two months ago, the same day he started his…"

"Martial Arts class." Josie finished his sentence for him. "I should've known!" She exclaimed.

"In all fairness he told me it was to defend himself, that he was sick of being a weakling." Marshall added for his benefit. He did not want to be on the bad side of an angry Josie.

"So it's fairly safe to assume Lucas has known about the wormhole for a while now."Z pondered. "He was probably using his strategy to get to the same time in the future." Josie had heard enough. She walked over to the bed and pulled Lucas into a sitting position.

"You lied to me," she practically shouted at Lucas. "Wake up and tell us the truth! It's the only thing that can help you!"

"Josie, it's not gonna work, you'll hurt him!" Vaughn slowly moved forward and was about to pull her away when Lucas' eyes fluttered opened.

"Josie…?" Lucas' voice was rough. "What's wrong?" His eyes grew wide as he noticed everyone in the room. "Why's the science club here?"

"Because you were an idiot," Josie grumbled. "And you lied to me, too. You lied to _us_! You conveniently forgot to mention that you knew about the wormhole for two months! TWO MONTHS!"

"Oh, that," Lucas looked at his hands and then back at Josie. "Are you mad?"

"What do you think?" Josie asked and walked away toward the kitchen.

"Wait, I'm sorry, okay?" Lucas tried to get out of bed, but Vaughn gently eased him back into a sitting position.

"Let me handle this; you're hurt." Lucas sighed and allowed Vaughn to go after Josie.

"Way to go, Lucas," Marshall looked at his best friend. "You've managed to lose our trust in you again."

"…I'm sorry," was all Lucas could say.

"You've hurt a lot of people, Lucas. Even Vaughn's worried about you." Professor Z started one of his 'be a good person' lectures. "You should have at least told your friends what you were doing, and maybe even waited for them."

"I know," Lucas sighed. "But it was really nice to have a secret all to myself that nobody else knew about. I was going to tell all of you eventually."

"Well, eventually doesn't cut it," Marshall replied.

"How long have I been out for?" Lucas asked, trying to change the subject.

"A few hours," Corrine spoke to Lucas for the first time that evening.

"So do you think I'm completely better? That my immune system has removed the toxins from my bloodstream?" Lucas looked at Professor Z.

"No," Z replied. "I think you're in stage three of whatever toxin you received from Tyler."


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, here's chapter 4. I'm really really thankful to all of y'all who have read my story and commented. Your comments actually keep me going on my story. I probably would be posting up chapter 2 about now if I didn't get any feedback. It's great ^_~. Anyways, what am I talkin' for? On with the story!

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"Stage three?" Marshall looked at Z. "What do you mean by stage, and if there were stages, this would be the second one, right?"

"I understand," Corrine replied, and Marshall turned his attention to her. "Stage one was when the substance entered his bloodstream, stage two was when he passed out, and stage there is right now. It's kind of like a cancer that has gone into remission." She looked at Z to see if she was right and he nodded.

"Wait, so Tyler gave me cancer?" Lucas asked, clearly freaked out at this point. "Are you serious?"

"I said 'like cancer,' Lucas. Not that it was cancer," Corrine snapped. Even she was starting to get really annoyed at Lucas.

"One thing we do need to remember is that it very well could be cancer. We shouldn't rule it out right yet," Z warned. "Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"If we knew more about where you went, maybe we could help. Could you tell us some things?" Z asked.

"No problem," Lucas said and started telling them _everything_ that happened in the future.

"Josie, calm down," Vaughn reached his arm out and touched her shoulder. "You know Lucas, maybe he had a good reason."

"Yeah?" Josie turned around sharply. "Like what?" There were tears in her eyes, but she was way to angry to care anymore. "I heard his pathetic excuse! Only Lucas could be so insecure that he kept the secret to himself because it 'felt nice' to not have to share with anyone!"

"You're right," Vaughn caught Josie's gaze with his own. "Lucas _is_ insecure." Vaughn was just a bit angry now at how stubborn Josie was being. He knew he should be used to this by now, but it was still difficult dealing with her sometimes. "You wouldn't know this because you never talk to him anymore, but he and I are close friends now and we talk."

"How is any of this relevant?" Josie asked him, folding her arms. She had calmed down some, but not entirely so Vaughn still took some time to respond. The last thing he wanted to do was freak her out again.

"Well," he took a deep breath. "Do you want to know why he's so insecure? He's chased around the same girl since freshman year only to be denied over and over again. All summer, he waited for you to call; it was all he talked about. All summer he wanted to hang out with you. When we asked him why he didn't call, he would always reply with 'if she wanted to talk to me, she'd call, but I'm done pushing myself on her.' I don't know, maybe he had the same mindset about this. Maybe he thought none of us would ca – Josie? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Josie looked like if Vaughn touched her, she would break down and cry. "I… I had no idea that he thought I didn't want to see him."

"Let's go and apologize, alright?" Vaughn asked her. "Are you okay to do that?"

"Yeah," Josie sniffed and they walked back towards the bedroom. When they arrived, Corrine, Marshall, Lucas, and Z were discussing what to do next.

"Hey, Josie." Lucas smiled. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks. I, um… have to apologize, too." She looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry for how I've been treating you lately. I… I didn't know."

Lucas sighed and looked pointedly at Vaughn. "Thanks," he smiled at Josie.

"So I think we've all decided to travel through the wormhole using Lucas' strategy and chill there for a while," Corrine explained. "Lucas said the everyday people the town he went to were very nice. Tyler had to trick him to a secluded area to even lay a finger on him."

"Which brings us to another interesting topic, didn't we defeat Avenir? Why… wait _how_ could he have people working for him when he's gone?" Marshall asked.

"Dunno," Lucas shrugged, and immediately regretted it. Wincing from the pain, he grabbed his shoulder. "I'm alright," he sighed. "All I found out was the Tyler's on Avenir's _side_. They share the same _ideas_ about conquering the world, and he did mention Avenir's name, but I never actually saw Avenir. Tyler's way too smart to let me find out anything that easily.

"I never did like him," Vaughn stated.

"Agreed," Marshall folded his arms.

"He was a very troublesome student," Z added.

"Okay, enough fooling around. Let's get everything packed." Corrine said as she pulled out an empty backpack from under her bed.

"How many of those do you have?" Marshall asked her.

"Enough," Corrine shrugged. "I have some for those who need one."

"You have one for practically _every class!_" Marshall exclaimed, and Corrine shrugged.

"I like to stay organized," Corrine stated, and Josie nudged Marshal to get his attention.

"At least you don't have to room with her," she stage-whispered, and everybody laughed. Well, everyone except Corrine.

"And what are you gonna put your stuff in?" Corrine looked over at Josie's side of the room, messy as usual. She was actually surprised there was room for Lucas on Josie's bed. Normally she only left enough room on her bed for herself. Maybe it was time for Josie's spring cleaning. _"Ha!"_ Corrine thought. _"As if!"_

"Easy," Josie's answer snapped Corrine out of her day-dreaming. Josie picked up her ratty old school bag from freshman year (her mother had offered to buy a new one every year, but she _like_ this one_ and dumped to contents out at Lucas' feet. "This one," she said and everyone, including Corrine this time, laughed.

"You know, I'm glad we're all together again," Lucas smiled and they finished packing.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, sorry for not updating so quickly. A new supernatural was on Thursday and that's one of my favorite TV shows. It just so happens to be on at the time I normally write out the chapter, so here's my new chapter (chapter 5) for my story "Another Wormhole?"

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"So, is everything ready?" Corrine asked as she looked at the rest of the science club. "Lucas, you said they still used the same currency, right?"

"Yeah," Lucas sighed. He was already starting to get tired again. He figured that going to the future would take a lot of energy, so he decided to sit out on the packing.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright to travel?" Jose asked him, watching as he grew more and more tired.

"Yeah," Lucas smiled. "Actually, I'm a bit hungry. May I use your kitchen before we leave?"

"No sweat," Josie smiled.

"You know how to cook?" Marshall asked Lucas. "Why didn't you tell me? We've been ordering take-out all this time for nothing!" Lucas just shrugged.

"I like take-out. Besides, I don't want to cook for you." Lucas teased. "You might call me a woman or something like that.

"Have you guys noticed how Lucas is acting much more sure of himself?" Vaughn asked the group when he thought Lucas was out of earshot. "I don't know, but maybe we should keep an eye on him."

"I know," Corrine agreed. "It is a bit odd."

"Maybe the goo is affecting his brain," Marshall joked. "I mean, seriously it's the least of our worries right now if Lucas has somehow gained confidence."

"You may not be that far off," Z commented. "What if the… 'goo' is affecting his brain?" Professor Zachery had problems using the word goo to describe something scientific. Surely there was a better word. "That could be was made him incredibly tired all of a sudden, as well."

"If you control the brain, you control the body," Josie said. "I get it."

"Huh?" Lucas asked as he walked in munching on a sandwich and sipping a cup of coffee. "I hope you don't mind, but I stole some of your coffee, too. I haven't had any today."

"You are _so_ not drinking coffee. Lucas, we don't know how the goo will affect you next!!!" Josie scolded her friend. "What if caffeine makes it work faster or something? Give me that." She took the coffee away from him. Lucas desperately tried to get the coffee back for one last sip but failed.

"What was that for? I haven't had any yet today… This is a record for me and coffee since we graduated." Lucas complained and sat back on her bed, and Josie looked at his coffee.

"Eww…" she muttered. "No cream," she sniffed the coffee. "And no sugar either? How can you stand this stuff?" Lucas just shrugged.

"It's the way I like it."

"We should get going," Z suggested keeping the group in line. He swung his borrowed back pack onto his back as did the rest of the science club. Josie was the only one who hadn't borrowed one from Corrine.

"How much further?" Josie asked as they walked down a deserted street, "It's freezing out here!" As if to emphasize the fact, she shivered.

"Only a couple of more blocks," Lucas assured her. "It's over on Bluebird Avenue."

"Bluebird Avenue?" Vaughn asked. "It's top secret so I'm not supposed to tell you guys, but uh…" Vaughn looked around making sure no one else was there." That's where my mom and dad have their private laboratories."

"Yeah," Lucas smile, "I found out about it while I was poking around the wormhole. We're here." Lucas stopped. Sure enough, the sidewalk looked warped right ahead of the group.

"Wait, if it's out in the open, why hasn't someone reported it?" Marshall asked. "I mean, isn't it weird for a normal person to see… _that?_"

"I can explain that one," Vaughn stepped forward. Paradyne Industries actually owns this whole street. Each house save one – my parents live in one of the houses – is an individual laboratory for different things.

"How can you're dad keep people off the street? Did he buy it from the government?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Marshall whistled. "Yeah, I know. It's expensive," Vaughn explained. "But it keeps people from intruding on my dad's experiments, and he has _really_ good security."

"So no one can get in without being detected?" Corrine asked,

"Pretty much," Vaughn replied.

"Then how did Lucas find the wormhole? You said you just 'happened' to find it, right?" Corrine demanded of Lucas.

"This one isn't my fault, actually." Lucas started to explain. "Pearson swore me to secrecy."

"Wait, what? What have you been doing with my dad?" Vaughn asked. "And why couldn't I know about it?" Lucas just sighed.

"Victor Pearson hired me to work at Paradyne Labs.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, sorry I haven't updated. If you've read my other story, you will know, but for those of you who just read this one, I'll tell you why. I just recently got my computer back from being repaired (I have been having power chord problems where it plugs into the AC jack on the computer itself so they got to ship it to another state). Thank you for your continued patience (if you're still here, haha) in waiting for Another Wormhole? This chapter was very fun to write… so much drama! So, without further ado…. Here's the story!

"You work for Victor Pearson?" Marshall asked Lucas. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yeah," Josie agreed. "Seriously, you can't keep something this big from us, even if Victor's turned good. It's not fair to your friends!"

"I'm sorry," Lucas' shoulders slumped. "But you know how Victor is.

"Yeah," Vaughn stepped in. "He's my dad, and he even kept it from me." With the group in agreement, there was an awkward silence until Vaughn asked. "Well, should we go in?" The science club felt the familiar pull of traveling through space and time, leaving each with a smile on their face when they arrived. Marshall was the first to speak.

"That was nostalgic." He grinned, looking at each of his friends, ending with Corrine who he stared at the longest.

"Nostalgia or no, you just walked right into a trap!" All six members of the science club quickly turned around. "I see you're feeling better after that wound I gave you," Avenir smirked looking directly at Lucas. "But that won't last for long." With a wave of his hand, Avenir made Lucas glow green (like the time he was glowing like a firefly's backside) and Lucas fell to his knees.

"What are you doing to him?" Josie screamed. "Make it stop!"

"_I_ can do whatever _I_ want to him," Avenir smirked. "Like this." He waved his hand again, and Lucas stopped glowing. Lucas' hands flew to his head and he screamed.

"I'm warning you!" Josie's voice was shakey. She had dealt with a lot that day, and she wouldn't let her father hurt Lucas if she could help it.

"Josie, Josie, Josie…" her cruel father reprimanded. "I won't kill him. Not yet, anyways. You see, I can do _anything_ I want with him. Josie, my dear, I have a much better use for him. Now that I realize you'll never join me, I need to destroy you and your little science club. You are my only threat. Wihtout you, I will rule the world!" Avenir exclaimed. "Now, Lucas. ATTACK!"

Without any warning except for Avenir's words, Lucas lunged into action. He was coming strait for Josie when Vaughn ran and tackled him.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" She exclaimed in shock. Vaughn jumped off Josie and began running.

"Come on, Josie. We have to go!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her away, with the rest of the science club following close behind.

"No, let me go back!" Josie exclaimed as Vaughn tightened his grip on her arm. "We need to save Lucas! Don't you want to help?"

"Josie," Vaughn said in a calming voice. "Lucas is my friend, too, but we can't go back. It's too dangerous. If we defend ourselves, we could wind up hurting Lucas."  
"Sorry, Josie," Z said. "But until we know what your father is controlling Lucas with, there's nothing we can do.

"Then we should research it!" She exclaimed. "Do something. We just can't sit around here doing nothing."

"No." Corrine spoke up. "It's too dangerous. One of us could get killed, maybe more. It's _not_ worth it. Josie, we have _no idea_ how this dimension works. It might be like our world, or it might be very dangerous, and I _don't_ want to risk losing anyone else."

"Then what do we do?" Josie asked. "_I_ don't want to leave Lucas alone with my father!"

"Guys…" Marshall tried to cut in, but Corrine's loud voice drowned him out.

"You're being selfish, Josie. Just because your little boyfriend is hurt doesn't mean I should risk losing mine!" Corrine snapped.

"Guys!" Marshall exclaimed, but this time it was Josie who drowned him out.

"Boyfriend?! My boyfriend?! Lucas is _not_ my boyfriend. He came to me tonight after not really talking to each other for three months!! He's _just_ my friend, and I thought he was your friend, too!" Josie fumed. She was really upset.

"GUYS!" Marshall screamed, but now there was no need. The cave where they had run to was now very quiet now that both girls were simply glaring at each other.

"I think we all need to calm down," Professor Z went into full blown teacher mode. "Marshall has an idea, so let's listen to him."

"Erm… thanks," Marshall looked a bit awkward to finally have the spotlight on him, so he shifted from foot to foot. "Corrine," He started. "You might not like my idea, but I think it really is fair. Lucas _is_ my best friend, after all – " he was about to go on, when he caught Corrine's glare, now redirected at him. He cleared his throat and continued. "Like I said, he's my best friend and I will never forgive myself if I don't do anything to save him. I don't think this world is really all that dangerous aside from their advanced technology which… now that I think about it resembles Victor Pearson's tech."

"I should go then," Vaughn said after a moment's pause. "If it's my dad's technology and Corrine is worried about Marshall, then I'm the perfect candidate. I know the tech and there's no one to worry about me." He was about to leave when professor Z stopped him.

"All of us worry about you. Even Lucas when he's not being controlled. Let me come with you. It's better to be in pairs anyways, right?" Z said. "Besides, I've got to protect my students," He smiled a small smile.

"Ah, come on Z. We're not your students anymore," Marshall joked. "But I seriously don't think I could protect the girls on my own. I can go with Vaughn. He'll protect me while you protect the girls. It's a win-win scenario."

"I suppose that _would_ be better," Z grudgingly agreed. He wasn't too keen on staying with the girls all night while Vaughn and Marshall did research. They wouldn't let him get any sleep with their constant arguing. Corrine just glared at Josie and Marshall the whole time while Marshall and Vaughn got ready to leave.

"Bye, Corrine," He said as he gave her a hug and she hugged him back, nearly crying. "I love you," he whispered in her ear.

"I love you, too." She sobbed.


	7. Chapter 7

Ah! Okay so hopefully now that I've graduated I'll be able to keep up with writing my stories quickly. Anyways, here's chapter 7 of Another Wormhole?

"Why am I even friends with you?"

"I could ask the same question!!"

Professor Z rubbed his temples. The girls had been going at it for about five hours non-stop right now. He had just about had enough. He looked at them and noticed they had drawn a line in the dirt.

"This is my side of the cave!" Corrine yelled. "So that I don't get infected with your idiocy!"

"Good. You'd better stay on your side because I don't want to get infected with your selfishness!!"

"GIRLS!" Z yelled. He was done listening to them bicker. "Either make yourself useful or sleep, but don't drag others down with you!" He sighed as the cave was silent for the first time since they got there. "The boys will be back soon," he mumbled because he was already half asleep. "Don't worry."

"This is all too easy," Avenir smirked as he relaxed in his computer chair. "They actually think I've done something to you!" He laughed and turned off the monitors he used to keep surveillance on the science club. "Why would I waste my precious resources making _you _do whatever I want?" He looked over at a boy bound and gagged who looked up at him with hurt brown eyes.

"Mmmph!" The boy shouted.

"What was that?" Avenir smirked. "Just a minute." He walked over to the boy and undid the gag. "What were you saying to me?"

"I'm not going to let you do that to my friends." The boy's voice rasped. "They'll figure it out soon enough. Just wait."

"Really?" Avenir chuckled. "I wouldn't bet on that." He said as he placed the gag back in the boy's mouth. "Lucas, you're going to have to watch your friends as they fight off 'you.'" Avenir grinned. "This is the price my dear sweet Josie will have to pay for trying to ruin me." All Lucas could do was stare.

"Hey, guys. We're back!" Marshall and Vaughn walked into the cave. "Is everything alright? It's quiet…"

"Yeah, you would think those two would still be fighting," Vaughn grimaced at the thought. "Z? Corrine? Josie?"

"Right here," Z sat up. He looked wary. "The girls are off together getting firewood. I told them not to wander off too far."

"So that would be why it's quiet." Vaughn joked.

"Yeah," was all Z could say in response. "What have you found out?"

"Well," Marshall began. "We spoke to some of the residents, and they said they've never heard of a way to control someone with science. There were the few who believed they could use magic and hypnotize people, but…" Marshall shrugged.

"So you guys didn't find anything?" Z asked. He looked a bit disappointed.

"No. We _did_ find something." Vaughn explained. "There was this old guy, a really amazing scientist, who said things here were pretty quiet before Avenir came to town.

"Go figure," Z murmered.

"Anyway, he said that there were all sorts of biological experiments going around, and he was drafted into conducting them. He told us there wasn't anything going on with mind control, but that Avenir was working on making clones."

"Clones?" Z asked. "Wait a minute. What if the Lucas we've been speaking to is a clone?!"

"That's what I thought, too. Now all we have to do is tell the girls." Marshall grinned. All of a sudden, they heard a scream. "CORRINE!" Marshall exclaimed. The guys ran out of the cave only to find no one there.

"Look at this," Vaughn picked up a girl's jacket. "It's Josie's."


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, we're getting really close to the end here. This chapter is so filled with action! It was really fun to write it. Be warned, there's a lot of scene changes that are marked by a line of *'s so be warned. Anyways on with the story. There will be one more chapter and that's all she wrote!

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"Where are we?" Corrine tentatively asked as she and Josie were thrown into a small room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, Corrine." Josie sighed. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I was just so worried about Lucas… I mean, I really don't trust my dad."

"No, I'm sorry, too." Corrine sighed. "I was being selfish with Marshall, and Avenir _is_ someone to be afraid of. "I should apologize to Marshall, too. I wasn't letting him help his best friend."

"He understands you were just worried about him," Josie assured her. They heard the door click.

"Hey, girls." Lucas grinned at them. "Did you two miss me?" Josie froze in fear.

"Josie!" Corrine exclaimed. "Snap out of it. You can't let him hurt you. I don't care if he's Lucas… think about it. If he hurts you, then snaps out of it, what do you think he would do?!"

"I don't know…" Josie murmured as Lucas sauntered up to the girls.

"Hey, Jos." He smiled. "You ready?" He grinned. "Since the 'Lucas' you know is still in there somewhere, I decided to be nice to him and give you a fighting chance so I don't have to hear him whine when I flat out kill you." He untied the ropes. "But, I figured that you were the better fighter over Corrine, so that I should probably kill you first, so you don't get any funny ideas of revenge." He smirked.  
"So what do you say? Will you fight?"

" Yes," Josie said, her voice hoarse from trying to keep from crying. "I'll fight."

"Oh, 'daddy's little girl' has a fighting spirit, eh?" Lucas asked as he helped her up. "Let's fight."

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"We have to find the girls," Marshall paced back and forth. "There has to be some way to find them."

"Calm down," Vaughn looked at Marshall. "We're doing our best. We'll find them. Don't worry."

"But I am worrying!" Marshall stopped pacing and turned to Vaughn. "Josie may know how to fight a little, but Corrine is hopeless!! She's not as strong as Josie and doesn't have the knowhow. I can't help but worry!" He exclaimed.

"Vaughn, Marshall!" Z exclaimed running back to the two boys. "I think I may have found where they were taken.

"Really?" Marshall asked. "Where?"

"Well, I talked to the guy you two spoke too. He was very nice really, and very smart –"

"Get on with it," Marshall and Vaughn said together.

"Right, anyway." Z continued. "He said the place where Avenir did the clone testing would be the ideal conditions. He could keep them alive for a very long time down there, just to draw us there and kill us." He pushed up his glasses. "And apparently Avenir spoke about destroying us a lot. I got a lot of useful information out of him, but I wouldn't be surprised if Avenir knew we were coming already because of the scientist we spoke to."

"That's messed up." Vaughn complained. "Why would he turn us in?"

"Avenir's _that_ scary." Marshall answered.

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"Why don't you just give up?" Lucas asked Josie as he threw her to the wall. "You can't beat me without killing me, and you can't kill me without killing your precious little boyfriend."

"He. Is. Not. My. Boyfriend!!!!" Josie exclaimed as she lunged at Lucas. "He's just one of my _best_ friends. And I _will_ _not_ kill any of my friends." She retaliated with a punch to the face.

"That hurt." Lucas wiped blood off his mouth. "You're actually pretty strong for a girl. I can see why Lucas liked you." He smirked and rubbed his hand on his pants, leaving traces of blood. "You know," He grinned a mischievous grin. "There is another solution."

"What's that?" Josie glared at Lucas.

"You _could_ end all this fighting without killing Lucas." His eyes glinted once he knew he had her attention. "You could just date me instead. You might find the 'bad boy' side of Lucas very attractive!"

"No way in hell!" Josie exclaimed as she tackled him.

"Well, looks like I've struck a nerve." He commented as he looked up at her. "And it also looks like you like being on top."

"Again," She glared as she pulled out a knife from her back pocket. "No way in hell!" She had the knife poised when Lucas glowed green again.

"No, Josie… don't!!!" Lucas pleaded. "Don't you remember all the fun times we had? You're about to kill me and those times won't even matter!" He looked up at her with those sad eyes and she hesitated. "Like when we performed Hamlet for Ms. Durst?"

"Hamlet?" Josie asked.

"Yeah, remember? We made her cry…" Lucas' voice trailed off.

"Yeah." Josie glared. "I remember. It was _Romeo and Juliet_, not Hamlet, and _you're_ not _my_ Lucas so stop acting like him!"

"Well, I tried." He smirked. "So get on with it. Lucas is still in here somewhere." After that comment Josie's hand started to shake.

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Lucas sat bound and gagged in a chair, watching Josie fighting his clone. Tears were in his eyes because he knew she couldn't last much longer. Especially with her hands shaking now.

"Soon victory will be mine," Avenir smirked as he watched the screen where Z and the guys were walking in. "They have no other options.

"Actually, we do."

"Wait. You guys are out there. How are you in here?" Avenir asked.

"Easy," Marshal said.

"We decided to steal your idea and make clones of ourselves." Vaughn grinned.

"How? You haven't had the time." Avenir asked, bewildered

"We went through the vortex," Marshall explained. "With Lucas' prediction method refined by Corrine and me, it was a piece of cake to travel to the exact spot and time we wanted."

"By the way," Vaughn added. "It looks like you're outnumbered." He knocked Avenir out cold, careful not to kill him (he wasn't a murderer after all) while Corrine and Marshall freed Lucas.

"Josie!" Lucas exclaimed with his harsh voice, leaping from the chair. "She's facing the other me!" He ran out of the computer room and into the holding cell just as the knife dropped out of Josie's hand. "JOSIE!" He shouted and she looked at him.

"Too late," Lucas Two smirked. He flipped Josie over and grabbed the knife. Not knowing what to do, the real Lucas lunged at his double, knocking him off Josie, but slashing his arm in the process.

"Stay away from her!" He growled. His voice sounded as if he had swallowed gravel, and his throat felt as if he had swallowed glass, but he still found it in him to yell every profanity he had ever learned at his exact double.

"I see I'll have to kill you first," Lucas Two grinned. "I always wanted to just kill you, but Avenir wouldn't have it. I guess now that I can fly solo there's no one stopping me." Lucas prepared himself to fight, though the room was beginning to spin.

"Yeah, I guess you'll have to." His words were getting slurred, but he didn't notice. He could only focus on staying alert… awake. "I have to protect Josie…" He muttered as he slowly lost consciousness. His cut was so deep, and he had lost so much blood that he didn't stand a chance at staying awake, let alone fighting his exact double.

"Hey!" Lucas heard a voice, but it sounded far away. Was it Vaughn's? "Hey you! Fake Lucas!" The voice shouted. It was definitely Vaughn's. The last thing Lucas heard before completely blacking out was the sounds of fighting. He had no idea who was winning, but he hoped it was Vaughn.


	9. Chapter 9

Ah… the last chapter. First fanfic ever finished. ^_^ (I've started a few… had thoughts mulling around in my head… but finished? Nope. I think posting it drove me to finish because I _knew_ y'all wanted more. I wasn't just writing down my thoughts and hoping people would like it, I was writing down more and more chapters because I knew y'all read them). You guys have been great readers ^_^. Don't worry… I'll write more Strange Days fics, but I think I want to start some anime ones for the time being. Anyways……… On with the story!!!

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"Calm down Josie, worrying won't get you anywhere," Lucas faintly heard Vaughn's voice trying to calm down his friend. It kind of irked him that, even in his dream world, Vaughn was snatching Josie right under his nose.

"Vaughn's right," He heard Corrine's voice, too. "Lucas will be fine; the doctors said he had a seventy-five percent chance of recovery."

_"That's strange."_ Lucas thought. _"Why would they be worried about me? I'm right here."_

"What about the other twenty-five percent?" Josie asked Corrine. "That's a big chunk of chance to just have faith!" Though her voice was still quiet, Josie's worry shone through, making her retorts sharper.

"Josie, I understand what you're going though," Marshall said. "I mean, he's my _best friend_. You don't just get over your best friend being put in a coma." Now Lucas was even more confused. Wasn't _he_ Marshall's best friend? He obviously wasn't in a coma, was he? He heard them just fine, but something inside him wanted him to just listen for a while. He wanted to catch what was going on before he said anything.

"I know twenty-five percent is a large number," Z's voice was the most calming. "But there's nothing you can do, Josie." Lucas heard a small sniffle and wondered who it came from, but he soon got his answer.

"It's all my fault. Lucas wouldn't have been hurt if I would have known that the real Lucas would never kill anyone… even if he was 'posessed.'" Josie's voice cracked as she said these words betraying the fact that she was crying. Wait, Josie was crying? _Josie_? What was going on? And why was the science club together again? They had parted ways after defeating Avenir. Sure, Lucas and Marshall talked to each other which also meant Lucas got plenty of Corrine (or too much in Lucas' opinion), but other than that he hadn't spoken to any of the science club members since… wait. Maybe he had.

Lucas vaguely remembered a laboratory, and looking at a person who looked just like him. He also rembered Avenir, and Josie, and the knife… and everyone, everything… he remembered it all. Instantly, his eyes snapped open and he jerked awake into a sitting position. He looked around the room he was in.

He couldn't see much, he had no idea where his glasses were, but he could tell he was in a hospital room. The walls were a drab pale green he thought (though he couldn't be sure) and he heard the beeping of a heart monitor he assumed to be his. He also saw many blurry faces, but he knew who they all were. The tallest, of course, was Z. That one was easy.

Marshall and Vaughn were close enough to the same height that Lucas had to look at their body types to tell who was who. Obviously, the sturdier one was Vaughn. Lucas could tell who Corrine was by the way she stood. She always stood like she was better than everyone in the room and she knew it (at least in Lucas' opinion). He liked Corrine, he really did, but she could be a very big know-it-all at times. Then, by process of elimination, Josie was left, but Lucas would have known it was her regardless. Her gorgeous red hair stood out among every single science club member.

After he took in his surroundings, he could focus on himself. That was when he noticed the throbbing pain in his right arm. He looked down at it, bewildered. How had he gotten that again? Oh, yeah. He saved Josie's life. It hurt like nothing he had ever experienced.

"Ow." He said hoarsely. His voice was raw with pain from not having spoken or drunk anything in the past few days. He reached out to touch his right arm with his left hand, but Josie stopped him.

"You'll only hurt it more," she told him. "Please, I don't want you to leave again." Lucas smiled and did what she was told. That was when it hit him. He regretted sitting up as quickly as he did as the room started to spin.

"Hey, Lucas!" Marshall exclaimed. "Buddy, are you alright?" He helped him into a laying position.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucas stated. "But can I have some water?"

"Sure thing," the whole science club said in unison. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back." Lucas smiled warmly at his friends, his science family.


End file.
